Art has inspired the human soul for eons! From ancient cave paintings all the way through modern-day emojis, digital art, and everything in-between, art plays an increasingly huge role in life. We’ve collected and created 100+ art quotes to inspire your creative spirit. Some of the quotes are from our own iCreateDaily for Creators members!
We are all about empowering creators and creativity at all levels and degrees of progress, and all mediums. From the art of writing and poetry, to song, dance and photography… art in all its forms is the expression of creativity and aligns us with our divinity.
Quotes can be like mantras, invocations, affirmations and a pep talk from the universe. Like any tool, these art quotes help, if we put them to use.
Art Quotes for Creativity Prompts
We’ve hosted a number of creative challenges and for each challenge we used art quotes and other kinds of quotes to inspire creativity through reflections on concepts and meaning. Instead of technical art prompts (which are great too), we chose an conceptual approach.
The use of quotes and conceptual prompts can spark inquiry that leads to inspiration and discoveries from the inside out. Pondering concepts helps expand awareness and intuition as well, leading to intuitive art which ignites greater creativity through a habit of elevated thinking.
Art Quotes for Creative Block
We all get stuck from time to time. So if you are looking to kickstart your creativity, scroll through the art quotes below and see which stimulates your imagination or captures your heart, then create!
One of the best ways to get over artist block is to just start making something. Don’t worry about perfecting your art, editing it, or where you’ll share it. Fear, perfectionism, and worry are a trifecta of negativity that will crush your inner creative spark.
About the Quotes Here —
How the Quotes Are Organized
Quotes are organized under headings of primary subject category. Some quotes can be found under more than one category where relevant.
Total Number of Quotes
The total number of quotes is approximate for two reasons:
- Some quotes are duplicated when there is more than one relevant category of headings.
- The total number will continue to grow over time as new quotes are added.
We hope you are uplifted and inspired by these art quotes.
ART QUOTES
Abstract Art Quotes
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
Abundance and Art Quotes
“When an artist realizes they have abundance, that they’re not going to run out of ideas, that they’re not going to run out of smiles. What people who make art realize is that the more they give away, the more they touch people and change people, the better they do.”
SOURCE: Seth Godin, Linchpin Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, b.7/10/1960
Action and Art
“Taking action is the most important thing you can do in anything. Especially in art.”
SOURCE: Video on artist Felix Semper
~Felix Semper, Cuban American artist, stretchable paper sculptor, 6/26/1964
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint’, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
~Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, 1853-1890
“The best camera is the one you have with you.”
~Chase Jarvis, creator of CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
Adventure Quotes
“Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start.”
~Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter, b.6/23/1977
Art Appreciation Quotes
“When you do something beautiful and nobody notices, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”
~John Lennon, singer-songwriter, The Beatles, 1940-1980
Art of…
“There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing.”
~Isaac D’israeli, British writer, scholar, father of Benjamin Disraeli, 1766-1848
Art Therapy
“Art is like therapy; what comes up is what comes up. It may be dark, but that’s what comes up. You may want to keep some of it in a drawer… but never judge it.”
~Nick Bantock, British artist, author, b.7/14/1949
“The veracity of ‘art for art’s sake’ is more accurately expressed as ‘art for our sake.”
~Che Baraka, American mixed media artist, b.1953
“The artist’s sanctum is a sacred space where healing occurs. Pains are released in drops of color and waves of sound, springing joy to life from infinity.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Artist Quotes
“I believe art is foremost for the artist who creates it. You do it for your soul, and if the rest of the world gets something from it, that’s a bonus.”
~Marion Boddy-Evans, Scottish visual artist
“Every artist was first an amateur”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer, poet, 1803-1882
“There is no must… no should… no right way. The artist is free to create whatever he or she is compelled to create.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
“I think, I feel, I create, therefore I am.”
~Autumn de Forest, artist, b.10/27/2001
“No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time.”
~Martha Graham, modern dancer, choreographer, 1894-1991
“When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss Art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss Money.”
~Oscar Wilde, Irish author, poet, playwright, 1854-1900
Awareness and Art
“Art is born in attention. Its midwife is detail.”
~Julia Cameron, artist, teacher, author, b.3/4/1948
“Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious.”
~Jean Cocteau, French poet, writer, playwright, artist, 1889-1963
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
~Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, 384-322 BC
Awe and Art Quotes
“All art, whether it pleases us or not, helps to add color, excitement, joy, or sadness and, most often, a sense of awe to our life’s experience.”
~Henry O. Dormann, entrepreneur, editor, author, 1932-2018
Beauty and Art Quotes
“To seek beauty is our nature. To create beauty is to align with the universe, and be transported.”
~ LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Becoming Quotes
“Art is an expression of my truest self.”
~Cindy Trippe Wentworth, visual artist, writer
“My aim is to show the visible as possibility in a state of perpetual becoming.”
~Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor, artist, optical & kinetic art, b.5/11/1928
Belief and Art Quotes
“I think the role of the artist is, is to take whatever it is they believe in and put it out there so the public can see it.”
~David “Lebo” Le Batard, Cuban-American artist, post-modern cartoon expressionist
Change and Art Quotes
“What is your best work for?
SOURCE: ConvertKit Keynote
What it’s for is to make change happen.
That’s our best work… to change people.”
~Seth Godin, author, speaker, born 7/10/1960
What artists do—in addition to changing people—is they give gifts.
SOURCE: Seth Godin, Linchpin Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
Chaos Quotes
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, philologist, poet, author, 1844-1900
Children and Art Quotes
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
Choice and Art Quotes
“We are all special in our own way the moment we choose to be.”
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
Communication and Art
“I am visually presenting myself to the world through art.”
~Katrina Morrison, creator, gardener, artist, crafter
“Art is the material manifestation of ethereal connections, shared by all people.”
~Tyler Clawson, podcaster, podcast producer, visual artist
“Art is the utmost communication. There is no language barrier in art.
It is a bouquet of flowers for your soul.”
~Kathy Jewell Tomasek Raabe, writer, crafter, creator
Connection and Art Quotes
“Art is a human being doing something that might not work, that connects us and draws us closer.”
SOURCE: ConvertKit Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
“Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.”
~ Alfred North Whitehead, Anglo-American mathematician & philosopher, 1861-1947
Constraints and Art Quotes
“Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist
“We need to first be limited in order to become limitless.”
~Phil Hansen, author, self-taught pro artist, overcame physical limitations
“In the particular is contained the universal.”
James Joyce, Irish novelist, poet, 1882-1941
When you learn to work within the constraints of what is, you discover access to new realms of creativity, where each open door to explore, leads to more.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
Contribution and Art Quotes
“The creative process is actually one of the most powerful things we can possibly do to help the world.”
~Dana Lynne Andersen, artist, founder-Awakening Arts Academy
“Art is too important not to share.”
~Romero Britto, Brazilian artist, painter, sculptor, b.10/6/1963
Courage and Art Quotes
“Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”
~Seth Godin, entrepreneur, author, speaker, teacher, b.7/10/1960
“Creativity takes courage.”
~Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869-1954
Creation Quotes
“Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.”
~Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, critic, 1930-2013
Creating Art Quotes
“When we’re doing art, we say, ‘How can I do more?’ When we’re doing work, we say, ‘How can I do less?'”
SOURCE: on The Futur, Make Something Everyday
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
Creativity Quotes
“Creativity is the new literacy.”
~ Chase Jarvis, creator – CreativeLive
The creative process is actually one of the most powerful things we can possibly do to help the world.
~Dana Lynne Andersen, artist, founder – Awakening Arts Academy
“Most people die before they are fully born. Creativeness means to be born before one dies.”
~ Erich Fromm, German social psychologist, author, 1900-1980
“Art is a subset of creativity.”
~Chase Jarvis, creator CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, philologist, poet, author, 1844-1900
After having gone from a single approach to art, I ended up having an approach to creativity that completely changed my artistic horizons.
SOURCE: Phil Hansen keynote for Adobe
~Phil Hansen, author, self-taught pro artist, overcame physical limitations
Nothing will satisfy you more than creating your world, than making a life from the song of your heartbeats.
~Andréa Balt, writer, author, entrepreneur
Creators
“I think the role of the artist is, is to take whatever it is they believe in and put it out there so the public can see it.”
SOURCE: David “Lebo” Le Batard’s Parkwest bio video
~David “Lebo” Le Batard, Cuban-American artist, post-modern cartoon expressionist
“On good weeks I think I’d probably be in the studio 12-14 hours a day. To me, this is where I want to be the most… there’s no turn off switch and I think that’s a beautiful thing, it’s a real blessing that I’ve been able to exist in that place since I was a kid, encouraged by my parents, and can still be there. Keeping track of time never really occurs to me.”
~David “Lebo” Le Batard, Cuban-American artist, post-modern cartoon expressionist
Critics & Feedback
“There are three responses to a piece of design – Yes. No. and WOW! Wow! is the one to aim for.”
~Milton Glaser, American graphic designer, entrepreneur 6/26/1929-6/26/2020
“Don’t waste your time criticizing your work or that of others. Practice, learn, create a lot; observe what you love and do more of that.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
Discovery and Art
“Art is where I explore and learn about the real me.”
~Ann Richard, writer
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
~Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, mystic, poet, writer, 1915-1968
Drawing Art Quotes
“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.”
~Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist, 1881-1973
Education and Art
“Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else.”
~Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, early childhood education consultant & author, b.10/21/1939
“Creativity is the new literacy.”
~ Chase Jarvis, creator – CreativeLive
RELATED: Reasons not to go to college
Effort and Art
“It is the artist’s privilege to turn any effort into art.”
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
CREATIVITY:
Ideas rarely arrive in linear fashion. Rather, they sprout like weeds in spring determined to grow. Plant your best ideas in the fertile soil of daily effort.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Emotions and Art Quotes
“Art is like therapy; what comes up is what comes up. It may be dark, but that’s what comes up. You may want to keep some of it in a drawer… but never judge it.”
~Nick Bantock, British artist, author, b.7/14/1949
“Art distills sensations and embodies it with enhanced meaning.”
~Jacques Barzun, French-American cultural historian, author, 1907-2012
“Art is feelings in a different form.”
~Stacey Lynne Stewart, visual & digital artist
“A picture is a work of art, not because it is ‘modern,’ nor because it is ‘ancient,’ but because it is a sincere expression of human feeling.”
~John F. Carlson, Swedish-born American Impressionist painter, author, 1875-1947
“Artists are alchemists of the medium of emotions.
~LeAura Alderson, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
“Turn your demons into art, your shadow into a friend, your fear into fuel, your failures into teachers, your weaknesses into more reasons to keep fighting. Don’t waste your pain. Recycle your heart.”
~Andréa Balt, writer, author, entrepreneur, author
Empaths and Art
“Creatives are often empaths, hyper sensitive to the pain of others, and of society. Immerse in your art to nurture your heart and visualize love coming to life.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
Enlightenment and Art Quotes
“Art is a necessity – an essential part of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts.”
~Ken Danby, Canadian painter – see his incredible art, 1940-2007
Excuses Quotes
“An artist has only 2 choices: make excuses or make art.”
~ Shane Mehling, a freelance writer, editor, musician
“There are only two options: make progress or make excuses.”
~Tony Robbins, coach, entrepreneur, visionary, thought leader
Failure Quotes
“Being an artist… a lot of what it really means is trial and error. Trying things that don’t work… that’s how you learn.”
~Autumn de Forest, child prodigy artist, philanthropist, humanitarian, b.10/27/2001
Famous Artist Quotes
“Creativity takes courage.”
~Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869-1954
“A picture is a poem without words.”
~Horace, Roman poet, 65-8 BC
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
~ Bob Ross, American painter, art instructor, TV host, 1942-1995
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
~Ansel Adams, landscape photographer, 1902-1984
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
“That’s why painters live so long. While I work I leave my body outside the door, the way Muslims take off their shoes before entering the mosque.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
“Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.”
~Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
~Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, mystic, poet, writer, 1915-1968
“We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
~Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, 384-322 BC
“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
~Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist, b.1452-1519
“Every artist was first an amateur”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer, poet, 1803-1882
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
~Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, 1853-1890
Fear Quotes
“Overcoming fear and conceiving this ‘art of more’ should be a fundamental practice in what it is that you do and make.”
~Chase Jarvis, photographer, creator of CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
Film Art Quotes
“No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul.”
~Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, writer, producer in film, theatre, tv & radio, 1918-2007
Freedom and Art Quotes
“For me, imperfections turn out to be a path to freedom. Once I’ve “ruined” a project, I don’t have to worry about doing it perfectly anymore. I can just get on with it.”
~Lynne Hundley, artist, retired pastor
“Art is the freedom to create what lies within your soul.”
~McCollonough Ceili, artist, writer, crafter, creator
“Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist, b.1452-1519
“All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society, and its masterpiece, free man.”
~Bernard Berenson, art historian & author specializing in the Renaissance, 1865-1959
“Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start.”
~Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter, b.6/23/1977
Flowers Quotes
“I paint my flowers so they will not die.”
~ Frida Kahlo, Mexican artist, 1907-1954
Gifts and Art Quotes
What artists do—in addition to changing people—is they give gifts.
SOURCE: Seth Godin, Linchpin Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
“When an artist realizes they have abundance, that they’re not going to run out of ideas, that they’re not going to run out of smiles. What people who make art realize is that the more they give away, the more they touch people and change people, the better they do.”
SOURCE: Seth Godin, Linchpin Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, b.7/10/1960
DO THE WORK:
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
Make art
Give gifts
Connect
Lead
Ship
Make a difference
Do work that matters
SOURCE: Seth Godin, Linchpin Keynote
Gratitude Quotes
“I don’t want to do anything else for the rest of my life. I want to do art. I wake up every morning and go to my studio and start working and I am the happiest person on earth.”
SOURCE: Your Creative Push Podcast #316
~Felix Semper, Cuban American artist, stretchable paper sculptor, 6/26/1964
Greatness Quotes
“Everyone has the capacity for greatness and creativity. It is a human condition worth applauding.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
Hard Work and Art Quotes
“You know who doesn’t hold back? Artists.”
SOURCE: ConvertKit Keynote
~Seth Godin, visionary, author, speaker, teacher, born 7/10/1960
Healing and Art Quotes
“When we are immersed in the creative flow we open our hearts and minds. It is intrinsically healing. When we tap the Source within we open a channel of inexhaustible inspiration.”
~Dana Lynne Andersen, artist, founder – Awakening Arts Academy
“Art for me is a form of nourishment.”
Andy Goldsworthy, British Sculptor, b.7/25/1956
History and Art Quotes
Art, in all its forms, is the true history of the world.
~Gavin Calf, visual artist
Humorous Art Quotes
“As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.”
~Calvin & Hobbes, by American cartoonist, Bill Watterson, b.7/5/1958
Ideas & Imagination Quotes
CREATIVITY:
“Ideas rarely arrive in linear fashion. Rather, they sprout like weeds in spring determined to grow. Plant your best ideas in the fertile soil of daily effort.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”
~Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist, poet, entomologist, 1926-1977
“Skill without imagination, is barren.”
SOURCE: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
~Walter Isaacson, professor, author, b.5/20/1952
Inspiration and Art Quotes – The Source of Inspiration
“My inspiration comes from the world around me on a daily basis.”
SOURCE: Video on artist Felix Semper
~Felix Semper, Cuban American artist, stretchable paper sculptor, 6/26/1964
“I’d say that people who want to start creating art, just do it. Don’t wait for the inspiration because that inspiration is a myth. You have to create it and the moment you start creating, you start taking the motion to make something, you’re going to see that evolve and grow into something else. And then your imagination will start working along the way.”
SOURCE: Video on artist Felix Semper
~Felix Semper, Cuban American artist, stretchable paper sculptor, 6/26/1964
Inspirational Art Quotes
“When we are immersed in the creative flow we open our hearts and minds. It is intrinsically healing. When we tap the Source within we open a channel of inexhaustible inspiration.”
~Dana Lynne Andersen, artist, founder – Awakening Arts Academy
Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes
Da VInci was notorious for not finishing things and jumping from one pursuit to another. His hyperactive mind and immense curiosity would like be labeled as ADHD in this day and age. And yet, perhaps it is just another kind of intelligence. It isn’t a deficit, it’s a difference, and in Leonardo’s case, it was an asset.
However, given his contributions to art, science and medicine, one wonders what more could he have achieved if he had managed to finish more of his works of art. Even he questioned and fretted over this, as indicated in this famous quote which he scribbled repeatedly in notebook after notebook: “Tell me if anything was ever done.”
“Tell me if anything was ever done. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me if ever I did a thing. … Tell me if anything was ever made.”
SOURCE: Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson, also quoted in The Saturday Evening Post.
~Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist, b.1452-1519
“Leonardo Da Vinci had an imagination so excitable that it floated with the edges of fantasy, which is also something we can try to preserve ourselves and indulge in our children.”
SOURCE: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
~Walter Isaacson, professor, journalist, author, b.5/20/1952
“The veins of the earth carry the blood that keeps the mountains alive.”
SOURCE: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
~Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath artist, b.1452-1519
Life and Art Quotes
“Begin again. Your life is your art.”
~Andréa Balt, writer, author, entrepreneur
“Art is an affirmation of life.”
~Trevor Bell, English born artist, 1930-2017
“What was any art but a mold in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself?”
~Willa Cather, American novelist, 1873-1947
“I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.”
~Carrie Fisher, American actress, author, 1956-2016
Love and Art Quotes
“Art, when inspired with love, leads to higher realms. Love art, and that art will open for you the inner life.”
~Meher Baba, Indian spiritual teacher, author, 1894-1969
“Creatives are often empaths, hyper sensitive to the pain of others, and of society. Immerse in your art to nurture your heart and visualize love coming to life.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
“To create is to bring forth love… to conceive it, to birth it, nurture it, raise it up and release it to a life of its own.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator – iCreateDaily.com®
“Art is our memory of love. The most an artist can do through their work is say, let me show you what I have seen, what I have loved, and perhaps you will see it and love it too.”
SOURCE: Art, image & quote by Anne Bevan, Scottish visual artist & sculptor
~Anne Bevan, Scottish visual artist, sculptor, lecturer-Edinburgh College of Art, author, b.1965
CREATE LOVE
Compassionate creators are often crushed
by the bad in the world.
Don’t fight in the fray of the masses.
Create instead.
Leave the drama and crossfires to others.
Your creative soul is not here for that.
Creators are guardians of the heart.
Create beauty.
Birth beauty and love into being
through your art… through your work,
To create from love is to have more love.
Create Love.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor,
creator iCreateDaily.com®
Meaning and Art
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
~Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, 384-322 BC
Meditation and Art Quotes
“The artist who creates in sacred silence enters a deep meditative state and is transported to a timeless place that fuels the spirit and kindles the heart to turn love into art.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
Mindset Quotes
“It is not a torment to be an artist. It is a privilege.”
~ Louise Bourgeois, American-French artist, painter, sculptor, 1911-2010
Mistakes Quotes
Don’t worry about mistakes. Making things out of mistakes, that’s creativity.
~Peter Max, German-American artist of bright psychedelic art, b.10/19/1937
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
~ Bob Ross, American painter, art instructor, TV host, 1942-1995
Money and Art Quotes
“When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss Art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss Money.”
~Oscar Wilde, Irish author, poet, playwright, 1854-1900
Mystery Quotes on Art
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
~Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist
Nature and Art Quotes
Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital as nourishment.
~Maryann F. Kohl, children’s art author, b.1/23/1947
“What is art? Nature concentrated.”
~Honore de Balzac, French novelist, playwright, 1799-1850
“Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish. The artist gives us knowledge of nature’s unrealized ends.”
~Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, 384-322 BC
“Art is man’s nature; nature is God’s art.”
~Philip James Bailey, English poet, 1816-1902
“Flowers are the music of the ground from earth’s lips spoken without sound.”
~Edwin Curran, American poet, railroad telegraph operator, b.1892
“Great art picks up where nature ends.”
~ Marc Chagall, Russian-French artist, 1887-1895
Optimism Quotes
“I try to take every disadvantage as an advantage.”
~Autumn de Forest, child prodigy artist, b.10/27/2001
Pain Quotes for Artists
“I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art.”
~ Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, editor, professor emeritus at Princeton University, 1931-2019
Painting Quotes
“I paint my flowers so they will not die.”
~ Frida Kahlo, Mexican artist, 1907-1954
“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”
~Edgar Degas, French impressionist artist, 1834-1917
“All you need to paint, is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind.”
~ Bob Ross, American painter, art instructor, TV host, 1942-1995
“I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image. Because the painting has a life of its own.”
~Jackson Pollock, American abstract painter, 1912-1956
Peace and Art Quotes
“Art is an instrument for peace and creativity.”
~Yaacov Agam, world-renowned Israeli kinetic artist, b.1928
Perfectionism and Art Quotes
“For me, imperfections turn out to be a path to freedom. Once I’ve “ruined” a project, I don’t have to worry about doing it perfectly anymore. I can just get on with it.”
~Lynne Hundley, artist, retired pastor
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”
~Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist artist, author, 1904-1989
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”
~Anne Lamott, fiction & non-fiction writer, b.4/10/1954
Photography and Art
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
~Ansel Adams, landscape photographer, 1902-1984
“You don’t take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and your heart.”
–Arnold Newman, professional photographer, author, 1918-2006
Picasso Quotes
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
“People say that I am a genius, that it all came easily to me. The truth is, the only way to be a true artist is to work day and night… lose yourself in it completely.”
SOURCE: Genius series on Picasso trailer
~Pablo Picasso, multi-disciplinary Spanish artist, 1881-1973
“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.”
~Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist, 1881-1973
Trailer for Picasso on the Genius series, Season 2
Possibilities and Potential
“A blank canvas…has unlimited possibilities.”
~Stephanie Perkins, author, b.11/24/1981
Portfolios Quotes
“Portfolios are everything, promises are nothing. Do the work.”
~ Chase Jarvis, photographer, creator – CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
Practice and Art Quotes
“The thing that takes inspiration to the next level is practice, practice, practice!”
~Susanna Holman, artist, crafter
Productivity Quotes
“My experience says that if you put out a lot of personal work that’s good, it tends to attract high dollar commercial work. But to be clear – I don’t create art to get high dollar projects, I do high dollar projects so I can create more art.”
SOURCE: as featured on Forbes
~Chase Jarvis, photographer, entrepreneur, creator – CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
Progress Quotes
“There are only two options: make progress or make excuses.”
~Tony Robbins, coach, entrepreneur, author, b.2/29/1960
Presence and Art Quotes
“The purpose of art is to bring people into presence.”
~Jim Carrey, American actor, author, 1/17/1962
Purpose Quotes on Art
“Art for art’s sake.”
~Victor Cousin, philosopher, author, 1792-1867
“The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.”
~Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American novelist, 1933-1991
“To be great, art has to point somewhere.”
~Anne Lamott, fiction & non-fiction writer, b.4/10/1954
“My need, my job, my purpose, my goal, my hope… isn’t to do good art. It’s to do my art.”
~ Lynne Hundley – artist, retired pastor
Renaissance and Revivals in Art
The history of art is the history of revivals.
~Samuel Butler, irreverent English novelist, b.1835-1902
“All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society, and its masterpiece, free man.”
~Bernard Berenson, art historian & author specializing in The Renaissance, 1865-1959
Resistance and Art
“Art begins with resistance, at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.”
~ Andre Gide, French author, Nobel Prize winner, 1869-1951
Role of the Artist
“I think the role of the artist is, is to take whatever it is they believe in and put it out there so the public can see it.”
~David “Lebo” Le Batard, Cuban-American artist, post-modern cartoon expressionist
Song Quotes
“Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start.”
~Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter, b.6/23/1977
Soul and Art Quotes
“Art touches the soul… art is communication… it reaches out from the canvas and passes through the eyes of the viewer right into his heart where it can leave an imprint of beauty that can make the spirit sing.”
~Nina Baldwin, artist
“[The arts] are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
~Kurt Vonnegut, American writer, author, 1922-2007
“Art is my soul in tangible form.”
~Shannon Schofield, author, b.2/23/1997
“Art is The ability to take what is in my mind, heart and soul and let it come out through my hands creatively.”
~Barbara Franke, visual artist
“Art is a meeting between self and soul. Each time the conversation is different.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
“The truest self-expression, art percolates from the soul and is the result of the bravest of humans wrenching it out and hanging it up to dry for the rest of the world to contemplate.”
~Paige Eaton, visual artist
“Art seems to me to be a state of soul more than anything else.”
~ Marc Chagall, Russian-French artist, 1887-1895
“Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.”
~Seth Godin, founder-AltMBA, author, b.6/10/1960
“Art is the stored honey of the human soul.”
~ Theodore Dreiser, American novelist, journalist, 1871-1945
Spirituality and Art Quotes
“Art, when inspired with love, leads to higher realms. Love art, and that art will open for you the inner life.”
~Meher Baba, Indian spiritual teacher, author, 1894-1969
“To create is to align with the creator.”
~ LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
“The artist’s sanctum is a sacred space where healing occurs. Pains are released in drops of color and waves of sound, springing joy to life from infinity.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®
“Art can lead you to God. I think that’s the purpose of everything. If it’s not doing that, what’s it doing? It’s leading you the other way. It’s certainly not leading you nowhere.”
~Bob Dylan, American musician, singer, songwriter, b.5/24/1941
Struggles and Art Quotes
“Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.”
–Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-American author, 1902-1991
Therapy and Art Quotes
In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.
~Raymond Chandler, American-British novelist, screenwriter, 1888-1959
Tortured Artist Quotes
“It is not a torment to be an artist. It is a privilege.”
~ Louise Bourgeois, American-French artist, painter, sculptor, 1911-2010
Transformation Quotes
“My goal as an artist is to create art that makes people look at the world in a different way.”
~Autumn de Forest, child prodigy artist, philanthropist, humanitarian, b.10/27/2001
“Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.”
~Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, critic, 1930-2013
“To touch art is to touch the mind; to touch the mind is to touch a life.”
~J. David Arnold, PhD, psychology professor
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storms, but to add color to my sunset sky.
~Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali, Indian polymath, poet, artist, musician, 1861-1941
Unity and Art Quotes
“Art unites people everywhere.”
~Karen Akers, visual artist
Work and Art Quotes
“It is the artist’s privilege to turn any effort into art.”
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®
“Portfolios are everything, promises are nothing. Do the work.”
~ Chase Jarvis, photographer, creator – CreativeLive, b.7/19/1971
Writer’s Quotes
“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”
~Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist, poet, entomologist, 1926-1977
Artist Felix Semper
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
Want to submit your photos, videos and/or article content for publication? We love to consider your contribution for publication! creators@icreatedaily.com